“SDGs: the UN dreams big – you should too!”

This past weekend, world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly in New York adopted new Sustainable Development Goals, an ambitious agenda that aims to end poverty, promote prosperity and to protect the environment over the next 15 years. Femi Asu, 30, a Commonwealth Correspondent from Lagos in Nigeria, writes that the goals mark an opportunity to set personal challenges.

The new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) replace the eight Millennium Development Goals, which were adopted in 2000 and expire this year.

The UN came up with a 17-point agenda of goals to build a better world. But some analysts have described the goals as too ambitious and unrealistic.

As I was going through the global goals over the weekend, I could not agree less that a number of them are highly ambitious. They qualify to be called BHAGs – Big Hairy Audacious Goals — a term coined by Jim Collins and Joe Perras in their book ‘Built To Last: Successful Habits of Successful Companies.’

What do you say about goals that seek to “end poverty in all its forms everywhere; end hunger, achieve food security…; ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages; ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all; achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”, among others?

I’m sure it was not for nothing that the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said: “We need action from everyone, everywhere. Seventeen sustainable development goals are our guide. They are a to-do list for people and planet, and a blueprint for success. To achieve these new global goals, we will need your high-level commitment. We need a renewed global partnership.”

As the UN SDGs are meant to guide development priorities around the globe over the next 15 years, I believe each one of us should have clear-cut written goals to guide our personal development.

I call them Self-Development Goals. These SDGs are as essential to your personal success as they are to the betterment of the society you live in.

If we all have SDGs to pursue and are determined to achieve them, then the accomplishment of the UN SDGs will not be a tall order.

To improve the world, we must begin by improving ourselves. To improve ourselves, we need to have goals, dreams and visions, and ensure they are big enough to inspire us to break out of our comfort zones and stretch ourselves. We only grow when we stretch.

You must dream big to do big things. When you aim high, it helps you to maximise your God-given potential.

Orison Swett Marden said, “All who have accomplished great things have had a great aim, have fixed their gaze on a goal which was high, one which sometimes seemed impossible.”

The late personal development legend and American author, Jim Rohn, who passed away in 2009, defined success as the steady progress in reaching your own personal goals.

Do you have personal goals to achieve in the next one, three, five, or ten years? How committed are you towards improving yourself?

Rohn said, “Unless you change how you are, you will always have what you’ve got. You can have more than you’ve got because you can become more than you are.

“Why not see how far you can go, how much you can earn, how much you can share and how much you can give? Why wouldn’t you want to discover all that you can become?”

It is true that too often people forfeit future success by not continuing to invest in their own development.

Some people reach a certain level and wrongly believe they’ve peaked. Success is a journey, not a destination. You can always become more, do more and share more.

As a stickler for personal development, I believe we can all achieve outstanding results in our lives by constantly seeking to improve our knowledge base and skills set through continuous learning.

Marie Curie, a two-time Nobel Prize winner, said: “You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end, each of us must work for our own improvement and, at the same time, share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful.”

Trained as an accountant, I live and breathe writing and journalism. I am an expert author with EzineArticles.com; an editorial consultant, inspirational speaker, youth empowerment advocate, social entrepreneur, blogger and publisher at http://www.standoutandreign.com

I am deeply passionate about excellence, committed to continuous self-improvement and adding value to others, helping them find their passion.

I am a unique, never-to-be-repeated miracle of God; an evolving work-in-progress going places to manifest the glory of the Maker!

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Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Commonwealth Youth Programme. Articles are published in a spirit of dialogue, respect and understanding. If you disagree, why not submit a response?

To learn more about becoming a Commonwealth Correspondent please visit: http://www.yourcommonwealth.org/submit-articles/commonwealthcorrespondents/